German-American Discourse on Politics and Culture

July 21, 2013

Pope Francis Pulling the Church to the Left?

Many, if not most, progressives and people on the left are atheists who view the Catholic Church as a barrier to positive social change. Pope Benedict was more interested in doctrinal orthodoxy than promoting causes of social justice. As Cardinal Ratzinger he hounded those who wanted change out of the church. A particular target were the priests in Latin America who, in accordance with Liberation Theology, made a common cause with the poor in an effort to effect political change. In 1984 Cardinal Ratzinger issued his Instruction on certain aspects of "Liberation Theology", forbidding the political activism of the priests:

As a consequence, the Church stood on the sidelines or stood with the autocratic rulers who resisted any eoncomic reforms. The Catholic Church has lost much of its moral authority throughout the continent, and is struggling to keep its flock from defecting to fast-growing Evangelical Christian groups.

However, with the new pope - Francis - things are changing at a fast pace. Pope Francis has not explicitly embranced Liberation Theology, but he has made social justice and the plight of the poor the central focus of his papacy. He is - up to now, at least - the anti-Benedict.

For some on the Left, such as Roberto de Lapuente, Francis is a pope that they can work with to effect progressive change:

(It doesn't really matter how he talks about the concerns for humantiy, but just the fact that he does it. In time when there is growing indifference to the poor, in which capitalism is codified as a law of nature, the political Left can no longer retreat to atheistic arrogance. For if people require a God or His representative on earth to become aware of social and ecological causes, then the Left must accept this.

This pope doesn't turn from the concerns of this earth and flee into the theory of his faith like his predecessor. He is pragmatic, burns like salt in the wounds and seeks out the forgotten and the disadvantaged. Don't we on the Left need to have the coolness to recognize this achievement, even though the man comes from a spiritual milieu that the political left likes to ridicule?)